Oystering Under Sail -- photo 4

This was a working sail day. That means we dredged under sail
power alone. The skipjacks have yawl or push boats, dinghy's that
are completely filled by engine, that they use to get in and out of
harbor. In recent years, they're allowed to use these engines to
push the boat while dredging on a couple days of the week. But
not today. We'd "take a lick" over the oyster rock and then
Wade would rev the donkey engine, an old six-cylinder gas engine mounted
in a box on deck. The crew would activate the clutches that drove
the dredge winches, hauling the dredges up to the gunwhales. There,
two men would grab the dredge and heave it up, dumping the shell on
the deck.